Trevor Noah is rather underwhelming, isn’t he? John Oliver appeared on CBS This Morning a month or two ago, and Charlie Rose accidentally said that Trevor Noah was about to fired, and Oliver could barely even defend that false assumption. I love John Oliver, Sam Bee and Seth Meyers, but Trevor Noah just wasn’t getting it done. Noah has some good writers and he brought in some decent people, but when did a Daily Show segment ever go viral this year? Never. No one was ever like, “Man, I can’t wait to see what Trevor Noah has to say about this.”
So it seems like a weird time for Noah to be doing a publicity tour for a memoir no one really asked for. Harsh? Sure. But true. Noah wrote his memoir called Born a Crime, about being mixed race in his native South Africa. To promote the book, Noah wrote an essay for the Hollywood Reporter about how millennials aren’t really entitled. The weirdest thing about this essay is that there are zero jokes in it. And, btw, he’s 32 years old… which is on the older end of the millennial cut-off (generally thought to be 34 years old, although that seems too old).
On millennial stardom: “I find myself defending my generation when people get angry about Instagram and YouTube stars. ‘These dumb internet stars, why are these kids getting TV shows? I was a waiter, and I auditioned for years, and I deserve that job.’ You cannot be angry that young people today have a different path to discovery. So you got discovered at a grocery store or in your improv troupe. Well, this person created their thing online. I don’t know why people are angry that millennials have created a path to their own audiences without the gatekeepers.”
Millennials, TV & selfies: “Whenever people say that we’re selfie-obsessed, I want to go, “But people have always been self-obsessed!” I remember when everyone was still using those disposable Kodak cameras to take pictures of themselves. The difference was there were limits to how many pictures you could take — and you had to pay to get them developed. We take more selfies because we can. Saying millennials are selfie-obsessed is like saying Gen X-ers were TV-obsessed because they watched more TV than their parents. You interact with the world that is presented to you. Gen X-ers watched more TV because that was the golden age of television, when people would congregate around this magical box and watch the same thing. I’m in a generation where many never had cable or they’re cutting the cord. “I watch what I want to watch when I want to watch it and how I want to watch it.” So people say we’re entitled. I think we’re merely exercising our choice.”
Social discourse: “My generation has seen conversations around gender equality change dramatically, has been at the forefront of transgender activism, has seen protests around racial segregation rise up again. Yes, there are some millennials who go online and only want to post memes, but there are others who go online to engage in social discourse. There are some who only want to share, but there are others who want to read.
There’s much more of it, but it’s just the same old stuff. Noah says each generation begrudges the next generation their technological advances, which is true. I look at kids today, living their lives on social media and I just think, “bah humbug.” But really… who needed this essay? An essay from a millennial about how millennials are deep and unknowable enigmas is self-aggrandizing navel-gazing (something which millennials also think they invented). To be clear, I don’t think millennials are any better or worse than Gen X, Boomers or any other group. There are bad eggs and good eggs in every generation. That being said, I don’t believe that humorless self-absorption should be considered a generational characteristic, but Trevor Noah keeps proving me wrong.
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.
34 seems about right for the millennial cutoff, though – people who didn’t come of age before 2000 and for whom the Internet was a thing (even in its early form, pre-Facebook) during their teen years.
That said, I’m not here for a meditation on how selfies are really super deep and empowering.
I’m not a millennial and I like Trevor Noah. And although I don’t really take selfies I don’t see anything wrong with people taking them. As someone else here said, other generations use to take plenty of photos with Brownies and Polaroids and throwaway cameras. So what? You sound like a sour puss. I liked Jon Steward but he’s gone and now it’s Trevor’s time. Get over it.
…I love taking selfies …Im especially looking forward to taking lots as the holiday season rolls around in the supermarkets with all the super xmas displays in the background….😊
I’m a millennial, and the stereotypes are lame and untrue. My husband and I worked our tails off, 100% financially (and every other way) independently, to pay through BAs and my MA, buy what is now our second home (bought/sold the first), and pay all our own bills for 3 children. We’re hardly living in basements taking selfies.
Yep. I have an MFA, a house and a baby at 26, and I’m not the exception. When someone starts off on milennials I just think to myself , “go ahead y’all, continue to ostracize an entire generation.” We’ll see how well that turns out.
I see selfies as a non-issue, honestly. Some people like to take them, some don’t…what gives?
I’ve defended Trevor Noah on here before, so I’ll do it again – I don’t understand why he gets such a hard time. I like him and I like The Daily Show; I think it’s funny and clever, and I like the current correspondents. I think people are hard on this guy out of some misplaced Jon Stewart affection, and probably the fact that he’s not American doesn’t help.
I agree.
I’ve always quite liked him and as a huge Jon Stewart fan (back to his MTV days!) I think Trevor Noah has been a good replacement.
I hadn’t heard the getting fired rumours and would be sad if it happened.
I didn’t like him at first, but I think he got better. Of course, I may have just missed Jon Stewart.
I watched him during the election season and I thought his coverage was pretty good.
I agree. I will take Noah (and Colbert) to oliver anyday. Oliver may be smart and direct but he is exhausing. Watchimg him is like watching someone having a nerious breakdown. I get tired in about 10 minutes. And I feel like if this story is told right his bookay be quite timely. He comes from South Africa and was born during the apartheid and was probably always aware of rhe racial discrimination, lack of basic human rights. If done right it may remind the US at this difficult time what America is to the rest of the world. How many of us grew up dreaming of the great land of freedom and dreams.
If you get a chance, listen to him read his book. He does an excellent job capturing all the different personalities and accents of the people in his world. His story is both tragic and hilarious and left me really thinking about the aftermath of institutionalized racism.
Just read Trevor’s book. I’m not young or cool, but I keep up. My husband and I love The Daily Show. Never expected Trevor to be Jon. The book is very frank. Trevor’s mom is his hero, and he’s honest about himself and blunt about South Africa during and after Apartheid. There’s a lot of ugly and there’s love. Now I understand why Trevor sees the U.S. as he does. We can learn a lot from him, and he’s still growing.
I was pretty ambivalent about him at first due to some misogynistic tweets in his past but he has grown on me. I like him and his dimples.
I love the Daily Show these days. It feels like the correspondents get more freedom and I really like Trevor Noah. Jon Stewart was really over it in his last year and I enjoy the new energy. I like John Oliver too, but in doses, once a week is good. I never truly enjoyed Samantha Bee and still don’t.
I’m a fan too. He’s really grown on me. Whip smart and does better accent impersonations than anyone else, ha.
Did anyone see him on Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee? Dude has a serious work ethic, and understands more about racism than most people can claim to. His childhood was hardcore.
I feel like a lot of the people complaining didn’t actually watch TDS regularly, just caught an episode here and there and all the viral bits.
John Stewart is great, but not everything he did was gold. His first few seasons were decidedly average, and he always had some major blind spots and a tendency to fall back on yelling his jokes when the joke alone was weak. People are comparing the best moments of Stewart’s career to Noah’s first year.
FYI: Boomers are the worst.
-A Boomer’s child
^^^THIS^^^
I will rant on Boomers all day long. They really are the worst.
Let’s not judge all millennials by the same yardstick, but by all means, judge all boomers.
@paranormal…ain’t it the truth.
I don’t have a problem with him, I just find him kind of boring.
Yeah, I agree. This guy makes me yawn.
I don’t considered anyone in their 30’s to be an millennial. If you graduated high school between 2000 to 2004, you’re not a millennial. In other words, if you remember what life was like before and during the coming of the Internet, then I don’t consider you a millennial.
For those wondering, I’m 35.
Don’t worry you’re not a Millennial. I will soon turn 37 and don’t consider myself one either. Although I’ve seen stuff written that anyone born in 1980 and after is a Millennial, I strongly disagree. Even if we were exposed to computers at a younger age than the rest of Generation X, we still know what dial-up is or what the novelty of the internet was like (I remember a friend of mine printing all the emails she got because she thought that’s what she was supposed to do). But I think the biggest difference is not that Millennials are selfie-obsessed, I think it’s because they are oversharers. They’ve lived their entire lives on computers/smart phones and don’t understand or value the concept of privacy. That’s why I don’t consider myself a Millennial as I don’t feel the need to put every single detail of my life out there for everyone to see. While my 23-yr-old cousin doesn’t even think twice about oversharing. Like when a loved one dies, I wouldn’t even think of putting it on FB because those who are close to me will know. I don’t need “strangers” on social media knowing those kinds of details.
oh, older millennials (born in 1985 and earlier) were definitely oversharers too – they just did it on the likes of livejournal, usually under a pseudonym. Or on forums.
the point is, these were kids exposed to the internet during their formative years, even if it didn’t take the form we associate it with now (facebook and social media).
You didn’t have ICQ? or MSN messenger?
Or… ahem… Myspace? I am so old I got on Facebook before it was open to the public. That’s legit my only internet cred.
I am on the older end of millennial, and I always fought that label. Although, I did most of my schoolwork on a computer, played Math Circus in school on a Commodore 64, and remember Sega and Sonic, not just Nintendo and PlayStation and still wince at the sound of a dial up connection. So in the end the I guess the internet was part of most of my childhood.
I’m 32 and I only started to hear in recent years that I was a Millenial. My reaction? Um….what? I remember in middle school getting my first B because my computer teacher gave us an assignment that we had to use the internet for and we didn’t have that at home. I remember when you bought long distance separate from the rest of your phone bill and I didn’t even get texting on my cell phone until I was 22 and out of college. I feel like I am part of a gap in generations-too old to be Millenial, too young to be Gen X.
Oh I like this game.
I went to the library in Grade 7 to do research for a science paper because the internet was not a thing and had to find things in rolodexes.
I wrote my first clapback to some b on paper that had tear away strips on either side.
I had a calculator and that was it’s only function.
8008135 was good joke at one point.
I have never had to do the opening salvos of a relationship via text.
My first parties are only documented through scant bad Polaroids, not 100 digitals.
…. I thought a millennial was nothing more and nothing less than a person who entered young adulthood in/around the year 2000. They’re not defined by social media use or broadband-only memories. Though of course, the image of millennials that people have these days, is of teenagers/early to mid 20somethings.
Thank you! I’m at the tail end born in ’82, graduated in 2000 and sometimes get offended when called a millennial. The kids today annoy me with the social media obsession and always taking selfies but boomers are the worst! Trying to be like the kids who annoy me now. I can’t wait to be old shaking my fists on my lawn
I think that the reason Trevor is not a big hit is that he is not angry for you the way Jon Stewart was. It seems to me that John Oliver took over that job. He watches for news that no one is covering and then he’s indignant for you. And that makes people feel good for some reason. Trevor’s approach is a bit juvenile at times and other times he’s like “you guys! Welcome to the third world, this is how the rest of us live too” and people hate that approach. So many people have pointed out to me that they feel he’s laughing at them rather than with them.
Aww, I love Trevor Noah. I’m sure what I’m about to admit is blasphemous, but… I watch The Daily Show more now that he’s hosting it. There’s room in my heart for both of them, lol. 😊
It’s not just Millennials, there are people in their thirties and forties posting selfies all over my FB feed. Personally I loathe myself, so you won’t see many photos of me. I think it’s people who either love themselves or people who need constant reassurance that post never ending selfies.
But hey, I’m a Gen Xer on my way to being an antique. 😉
If the only bad thing my generation has done is take a few too many selfies then I’d call that a win. Better than destroying the economy, wrecking the climate and starting numerous oil wars *ahem*
I was born in 81, and feel neither a part of Gen X, Gen Y, nor a millennial. I do feel fondly toward the lot of Xers, probably because they were predominant during my adolescence. But there doesn’t seem to be any lumping together of people born between about 1977-1983, and I’m both ok with and confused by it. Likewise, my mom was born in 1960, and would be considered on the older side of generation x, but she probably identifies more as a boomer. Most of this probably relates more to where a person was born and raised than to when they were born, at least for what they were exposed to and when (such as, I never played Oregon Trail at school, and didn’t have access to computers at school until about eleventh grade.)
I loved Jon Stewart. But he’s gone, by his own choice. Toward the end he seemed like he was tired. The political scene that he made fun of wasn’t funny anymore. It was seriously bad. He wanted out. So, I let him go.
Now we have Trevor. And I love him. He’s cute, with those dimples. He’s charming. He’s wonderful with his “voices” and can imitate any accent he wants to use. Comedy Central decided that the Daily Show would move away with Jon’s war with Fox News, so we don’t get much of that any more. Maybe people miss that.
But Trevor has dealt with this crazy election and the whole Donald Trump thing with such wonderful humor. I just love him, and I laugh out loud during his monologues. I also like the correspondents and the way he sometimes interacts with them. I’m happy, and would be unhappy if they replaced him.
u💯 Agree Evelyn. I find Noah so relatable , maybe bcs I am not American ( i come crom Central European country – corruption is rife here. Oh and I am 33, work in tech development) I find Nosh’s style fun & i begun to follow his show on facebook & youtube. There are many segments/ creators that are amazing in his team. I love how he can get serious but still makes me laugh. He warms my heart when something is just negative and you want to run away from it.
No he is not Stewart but neither was Stewart at this age. He was actually pretty awful at the start. Stewart had to find balance, learn timing and nuances that only experience can teach. I think Noah is on his way there if CC lets him get there.
I see older people constantly posting photos of their married life and children (even sonograms) so I don’t think there’s much difference between Gen X and millennials.
I guess I could see baby boomers being more private though.
I like him, I think he’s great. Also, I see his point. People complain about selfies all the time and, sure, I guess if you do nothing else ever in your life except sleep, eat, and take selfies that’s crazy. But they’re easy to take and they’re fun – I don’t see the big deal.
I’ve always thought that if smartphones, twitter, instagram, and facebook had been around during the 1950’s and the 1920’s, those older generations would have been taking lots of selfies too.
I think he’s great too, and I’d actually be interested in reading his book. That said, the constant selfie taking is annoying. I went to a couple of concerts recently, and maybe I’m
just an old fart, but I was so sick of these people taking numerous selfies without any regard for the people behind/alongside them. I went to see Echo and the Bunnymen recently and yay…no selfies! Folks were there just listening to the music. Team Gen-X – we may be old, but we have our moments. 😉
I love him on the show and I look forward to hearing his take on current events. Just started watchin in early Nov a week before the election Hope the fired rumors are false.
I love Trevor, I think he is really good on the daily show.
i am also not a big trevor noah fan… but, the other night he had a great piece on comparing donald trump vs. jacob zuma. it was insightful and quite terrifying. i think its my favorite thing trevor’s even done though.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trevor-noah-donald-trump-jacob-zuma_us_582be355e4b0aa8910bdb178